UFC 66: MMA going mainstream

[White Shogun]

Just a heads up in case you aren't aware, UFC 66 is tomorrow night. The main event is Chuck Liddell v Tito Ortiz II. The rest of the televised fight card looks pretty good:

Andre Arlovski is back in action against Pe De Pano.
Ron Howard, I mean Forrest Griffin, goes up against Keith Jardine.
Jason McDonald squares off against Chris Leben (WARNING: Don't count McDonald out in this fight. The guy is good. I can see Leben losing this fight by submission.)
And TUF 3 poster boy, Michael Bisping, is on the card, fighting Eric 'the Red' Schafer.

UFC 66 is expected to sell out the MGM Garden, to the tune of $4 million dollars. PPV buys are expected to exceed 1 million purchases: that means over $40,000,000 in revenue. Only a few boxing matches have ever exceeded 1 million purchases. The UFC has gone mainstream. Let's hope it doesn't go to their head. I'd hate to see MMA turn into boxing.

Edited by: White Shogun

 

[Poacher]

Yes, MMA is going mainstream. I'm worried about corporate pressures changing the sport. But that's another post.

Do you all know that Cro-Cop has left PRIDE signed with the UFC? He has. His first opponent will reportedly be someone named Eddie Sanchez. I'm betting that Dana White introduces CC at tomorrow night's PPV. Most American MMA fans only know UFC. It's going to be funny to see how people react. I can hear it now: "Who's that loser?" "Chuck would KO his ass!" etc, etc....

Speaking of Chuck...he should handle Tito in this fight and rid us of the arrogant "Bad Boy" for awhile.

PRIDE'S NYE card is good also. We get Fedor in action against Hunt and Nog v. Barnett II as well as many other quality matches. Should be great to watch.

 

[White Shogun]

Poacher,
Which one are you going to watch? It's a tough decision! You wish these guys wouldn't go head to head, especially since it looks like Pride is going to lose big.

I had heard about Cro Cop signing with the UFC. They also signed Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, whom I hope is next up for Chuck after Tito. If things keep going this way, the UFC is going to have all the name fighters and Pride will be running reality TV shows to find it's stars.

I'm not sure how the American public will receive Cro Cop if Dana announces his acquisition tomorrow night. I think he may be more famous than we give the public credit, but then again.. they had no idea who Wanderlai Silva was either, a guy who fought and lost to Tito and used to fight in the UFC itself. But after Cro Cop KO's Sanchez in spectacular fashion, everybody will know who he is.

The day after Dana announced that Silva was going to fight Chuck, I read that Wanderlai Silva was the 'most-searched' topic on Yahoo. I expect it will be even higher for Cro Cop.

I'd like to find a way to watch both Pride and UFC. I'd shell out the bucks for both. I'm going to check the fight times and see if it can be done. One more time that I wish I had TiVo.

EDITED TO ADD: My mistake! I thought the two shows were going head-to-head, but UFC 66 is on Dec 30, and Pride's New Year's Eve show is .. well... it's on New Year's Eve, Dec. 31!

I will probably shell out the bucks and watch both.

p.s. For those who don't know, the UFC usually only shows 4-5 fights per card, unless the fights end early in which case they will air a fight from the undercard that was taped earlier. But Pride usually shows every fight on the card, which can be a long night of fights if many of them go the distance. Edited by: White Shogun

 

[Ground Fighter]

Ron Howard, I mean Forrest Griffin

Yeah, he does look like him. Or Opie...lol. Wait a minute...Opie WAS Ron Howard, right?Edited by: Ground Fighter

 

[Poacher]

Poacher,
I had heard about Cro Cop signing with the UFC. They also signed Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, whom I hope is next up for Chuck after Tito. If things keep going this way, the UFC is going to have all the name fighters and Pride will be running reality TV shows to find it's stars.

I'm not sure how the American public will receive Cro Cop if Dana announces his acquisition tomorrow night. I think he may be more famous than we give the public credit, but then again.. they had no idea who Wanderlai Silva was either, a guy who fought and lost to Tito and used to fight in the UFC itself. But after Cro Cop KO's Sanchez in spectacular fashion, everybody will know who he is.

The day after Dana announced that Silva was going to fight Chuck, I read that Wanderlai Silva was the 'most-searched' topic on Yahoo. I expect it will be even higher for Cro Cop.

I hope you're right about CC. If he comes out to Wild Boys the Hooters UFC crowd will think he's some kind of joke. Poor Tim Sylvia. CC will probably get a title shot after he beats Sanchez. What will Tim do then?

I forgot about the signing of Rampage Jackson. It will be interesting to see how Chuck reacts to him sitting Octagon-side at the fight tomorrow night. I'm worried that Jackson will try some stupid stunt. Jackson has been living off of the residue of his victory over Chuck for awhile now. It's getting tiring.

Since his win over Chuck his record is officially 6-3. Good but not great. If you count the fight against Lindland as a loss (as it should have been) his record is merely 5-4. Hardly the stuff of the next UFC superstar. He is scheduled to fight Marvin Eastman. Eastman has already beaten him once before. What is Dana going to do when "Rampage" loses again?

 

[White Shogun]

Didn't Tim Sylvia actually call out Fedor one time? I also read that he was talking smack about Jerome LeBanner. I do feel kinda sorry for big Timmy; nobody loves his belt more than him. He will probably cry after he wakes up from the KO.

I think Chuck will KO Rampage if they fight again. Jackson hasn't been the same since Wanderlai beat him into oblivion. I'm not sure though if Eastman will beat Rampage again. I'd rather see Jackson win so Chuck can score the revenge KO.

 

[SteveB]

You're right about the rising popularity of the UFC. Today on our local sports talk radio station, the UFC was a big topic of discussion. The show host is pretty knowledgeable about MMA and has attended a number of UFC fights. He was saying that Pride has lost its PPV contract and may not be around after next year, which is the reason many of the fighters are moving to UFC. Has anyone else heard this?

 

[white is right]

Didn't Tim Sylvia actually call out Fedor one time? I also read that he was talking smack about Jerome LeBanner. I do feel kinda sorry for big Timmy; nobody loves his belt more than him. He will probably cry after he wakes up from the KO.

I think Chuck will KO Rampage if they fight again. Jackson hasn't been the same since Wanderlai beat him into oblivion. I'm not sure though if Eastman will beat Rampage again. I'd rather see Jackson win so Chuck can score the revenge KO.

By the way tommorow's fight should be a mismatch. I can't see Ortiz winning unless he catches the Iceman cold. Ortiz has never beaten an elite fighter, besides Shamrock who was on the slide.

 

[freedom1]

Yeah, I wish I could invest in it, but it's all privately held. Maybe at some future date they'll have an initial public offering (IPO). I find it more interesting than football. Dana White runs it like a profit making business, sponsors, video games, pretty girls, reality shows. He's sitting on a goldmine and he knows it. Many, if not most of the stars are white, and the refs don't allow any of the lay and pray tactics some of the original grapplers would use. They keep it exciting. As long as no gets killed, it's going to huge. Even the most dumbed down fan realizes it's much closer to a real fight than a boxing match.

 

[freedom1]

There's no way Rampage is the same after the two beatdowns Vanderlei put on him. I mean both of them were old school ghetto whuppins, no technique, just one tougher guy beating the living sh't out of another guy.

Even in his most recent interviews, Rampage is more soft spoken and humble (in a relative sense

He's gonna be easy pickens for Chuck.

 

[Poacher]

In Cro-Cop voice: "Sylvia Tim...you are next."

I hope Dana has put together a decent HL package to introduce Mirko. It's bad enough that the #2 HW in the world has to fight some guy named Eddie Sanchez they should at least give everyone an honest look at who CC is.

Watch me be wrong and they not even intro CC tonight. UUGGHH.</font>

Tito doesn't look or sound confident to me. Chuck looks to be in a zone. The Babalou beer-belly gone, Chuck is going to eviscerate Tito.

After Griffin beats Jardine we will get to see some sort of title eliminator between "Rampage" and Forrest...I hope. Would love to see Forrest KO his arse.

Not a lot of intersting fights from the racial angle. We'll have Iceman v. Tito and Fedor v. Hunt and "Hellboy" Hansen v. some Japanese fighter whose name I can't remember but other than those I can't think of any.

 

[White Shogun]

I watched UFC All Access with Chuck Liddell. Who ever said these guys don't make a lot of money is crazy. Chuck has a 46000 square foot house, one wing for himself and one wing for everyone else, separated by a huge kitchen; a pool, and two two-story decks with some crazy mountain rock landscaping. He said it helps to have all the extra room when fighters come to train with him. They used to sleep on air mattresses in the living room; now they have real beds, which he says he's sure they appreciate.

He has a decked out Hummer and a Ferrari. No sh*t: a Ferrari. He drove Rachelle too LA for dinner, lol. She said, 'but that's like a 4-hour drive from here!' Chuck replied, 'Not in this car, it's not.'

In one segment, they showed he and his team training by pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with weights up a steep hill behind his house. Looked excruciating, lol. He told Rachelle that he has to eat 4600 calories a day just to maintain his weight because of how much he works out.

I watched part of the weigh-in on Spike last night. Chuck looked a little thin but weighed in right at 205. He immediately started chugging Gatorade as soon as he stepped off the scale. They had a face off between him and Tito. Chuck didn't blink and before it was over Tito was grinning all goofy and bobbing his head side to side. Personally, I think he got stared down. But we'll see tonight.

 

[white is right]

Didn't Tim Sylvia actually call out Fedor one time? I also read that he was talking smack about Jerome LeBanner. I do feel kinda sorry for big Timmy; nobody loves his belt more than him. He will probably cry after he wakes up from the KO.

I think Chuck will KO Rampage if they fight again. Jackson hasn't been the same since Wanderlai beat him into oblivion. I'm not sure though if Eastman will beat Rampage again. I'd rather see Jackson win so Chuck can score the revenge KO.

By the way tommorow's fight should be a mismatch. I can't see Ortiz winning unless he catches the Iceman cold. Ortiz has never beaten an elite fighter, besides Shamrock who was on the slide.

Back in the day when boxing trainers used to say that sex weakens legs, I wonder what they would say about Ortiz's dating of the biggest porn icon of the late 90's early 2000' era? If this was the early UFC a few shots to his package and Ortiz would start spewing out various orfaces.

 

[White Shogun]

Not to mention Chuck's party habits. If you frequent any of the MMA boards, you'll see pics of Chuck with all kinds of women, partying his a** off.

 

[White Shogun]

**** SPOILER ALERT ****</font>

Chuck won by TKO in the 3rd. Tito was turtled up in the fetal position, Chuck was raining down blows on the top and back of the head and arms. Right at the moment the ref stopped in, Tito was attempting to roll out. He was getting much worse from Chuck in the 1st but the ref let it continue. There is some talk of an early, bullsh*t stoppage but here's my take on it:

You can expect the 'fetal' defense from newbies their first few fights in a ring. But after you've been in MMA for years, fought in title fights, and WON fights because the ref stopped the fight when YOUR opponent was doing the same sh*t, you have no excuse. I figure you have three seconds, tops, when you are knocked down and your opponent is raining blows down on you to at least appear to be intelligently defending yourself. After that you have to know you're at risk of the fight being stopped.

IMO the outcome was inevitable. Tito scored with a hard right that I believe Tito thought rocked Chuck. But in reality it just looked like it pissed Chuck off; an ass beating ensued. The fight was stopped seconds later.

To his credit, Tito didn't make any excuses.

And how about Keith Jardine knocking out Forrest Griffin in the first round!? Wow! I was very impressed by Jardine. The minute he walked to the octagon to bagpipes, I knew I wanted him to win the fight. How can you not root for a guy who has bagpipes for entrance music??

MacDonald literally choked out Leben like I expected, but I admit it was a much tougher fight than I thought it would be. It looked like Leben might win by KO for a while. But that guillotine was TIGHT. Leben was almost completely out, so much so he couldn't even tap. He just sort of lifted his arm, lol. It was an interesting fight though.

Bisping's ground game is much better than I expected. He defended the takedown extremely well and managed several escapes from very difficult positions. I think he is going to be a great fighter in another year or so. I'd like to see him fight Rashad.

It was a great show. I'm looking forward to another 3-4 hours in front of the TV tomorrow night watching Pride.

 

[Johnny]

I was disappointed in Forrest Griffin tonight. Not for losing his fight, but for balling like a baby in the ring just after the fight. Then sprinting back to the dressing room in a fit. It was like someone told him there was no Santa Claus. I thought his reaction was very undignified.

 

[White Shogun]

I was disappointed in Forrest Griffin tonight. Not for losing his fight, but for balling like a baby in the ring just after the fight. Then sprinting back to the dressing room in a fit. It was like someone told him there was no Santa Claus. I thought his reaction was very undignified.

Yeah, I agree. It was very uncharacteristic of him. He didn't respond that way after losing to Tito, although he went the distance with Tito - a guy who is more famous and respected, and alleged to be a much better fighter than, Keith Jardine. I guess he took this loss poorly because he thought he was going to win - especially after Bonnar beat Jardine in their last fight. But oh well! I like Jardine and hope he continues to improve.

I'm waiting for one of them to fight Rashad and put that hype to rest. That guy is getting way too much love on the UG, for a guy who is the King of Lay n' Pray.

 

[Poacher]

I don't like to say it but after last nights event most of the UFC fighters look like club fighters compared to Pride guys.

Felt bad for Forrest. I didn't know he was so emotional. Man, he literally ran from the arena. Never seen that before. You're right about the bagpipes...they were friggin' awesome.

So they show Jackson video (of a fight he lost imo) but no Mirko? You'd think they could have gotten a training video or something.

That guillotine was deeeeeep. Leben just kind of flailed his arm at the end.

Best lines of the night:

Rogan on CC: "MMA fans know who he is but UFC fans don't."

Leben: "I love all the fans...except for the drunk ones who boo everything..." True.

I don't think Arlovski will ever hold a title again. And what was it with Dean stopping the action when Pano had position?

 

[cleverone]

I don't understand the swipes at Forest. Of course he's going to be emotional ... he just realized that any potential shot at the title went down the toilet. Plus, Forest had a rep for a solid chin and was stopped in the first round. His future isn't over but that was one big bump in the road.

Bisping really pulled it out over Schafer. If that fight would have gone into the second round he would have been in trouble. Schafer almost choked him out and was more impressive in my opinion. If he would have had a little better stand-up or stand-up defense then Bisping would have run out of gas.

What about AA? He was in phenominal shape and was also very impressive. I heard he tore something in an early round in his last fight with Silvia. Joe briefly mention something about it but didn't catch it because of the surrounding noise.

It will be interesting to see how long Cro Cop has to wait for a title shot. My guess is that it will be like Anderson Silva's quick shot.

 

[White Shogun]

Herb stopped the action in the Pe de Pano fight because AA kicked him in the face. Apparently NO kicks are allowed to a downed opponent, even if you're on the ground with him. Herb was going to either give Pe de Pano a break or stand them up, but Pe de Pano waved it off to maintain position. Unfortunately for him, he forgot that he was in an MMA match and not a sport BJJ tournament and left his head unprotected going for the leglock. Props to AA for taking advantage and KHTFO. It was a sweet shot. Goldberg had one of the best lines of the night: when Herb was talking to the two fighters, he said AA has this look on his face like, 'yeah, yeah hurry up and stop talking, as soon as you're done I'm going to punch him in the face!'

I had a completely different opinion of the Bisping -Schafer fight. I thought Bispings sub defense was outstanding. He was mounted with hooks in and still managed to get out of it. Schafer is no slouch, that took a lot of skill on Bisping's part to get out of Schafer's sub attempts.

I think CC gets his shot after he KO's Eddie Sanchez. Same for Rampage if he beats Eastman, although they might make him fight someone like Jardine or Forrest first. I think CC KO's Big Timmy and Rampage loses to Chuck by KO.

 

[Ground Fighter]

Not to mention Chuck's party habits. If you frequent any of the MMA boards, you'll see pics of Chuck with all kinds of women, partying his a** off.

Yeah, so I've heard. I have, unfortnately, also heard that Mr. Liddell likes to sniff the "nose candy", if you catch my drift. Whether or not its true, I don't know, but I have heard it from multiple sources. Edited by: Ground Fighter

 

[White Shogun]

I hate to say it, but Chuck strikes me as a guy for whom there isn't much that is off limits. The sad thing is all this is going to catch up with him, and it's going to be sooner than later. He is already 37; I don't expect that he will be as successful into his 40's as Randy Couture. I get the feeling when Chuck finally loses it's going to be bad; I just hope it isn't two years from now against someone like Quinton Jackson.

I have read on the UG that Liddell had a torn ACL three weeks before the fight, but kept it a secret. He also know has allegedly torn a tendon in his hand and broke his foot on Tito's leg. I don't know how much of that is true, but it wouldn't surprise me. Like we've all said, Chuck is a tough SOB. Edited by: White Shogun

 

[freedom1]

Oh man, wait the UFC only fans get a load of Crocop. I feel sorry for Tim Sylvia's legs.

 

[Ground Fighter]

Oh man, wait the UFC only fans get a load of Crocop. I feel sorry for Tim Sylvia's legs.

Yeah, seriously. Sylvia is a tough competitor, but Cro-Cop is a very nasty leg-striker. Cro-Cop knocked out thet gorilla Bob Sapp, in a K-1 fight, with one kick to the temple not too long ago. Sapp was literally on the ground, crying. I kid you not. The fight is posted on youtube.

 

[White Shogun]

I think Sylvia has become too defensive and afraid of losing his belt to put it all on the line and really fight. The last time I saw him seriously try to beat somebody was when he had his arm broken by Mir. In all of his fights since then, he fights not to lose and win by decision, eking out a win by a jab here and kick there, stuffing a takedown here or there. He is not aggressive at all. I can see Cro Cop setting him up with a few leg kicks and then BAM head kick for the KO, even if Big Timmy's head is way up there.